World Music from Lebanon. Three New Arabic/Brazilian Fusion CDs

Share Article

As part of its World Music From Lebanon series, Forward music just released three new albums by Ghazi Abdel Baki "Communique #1", Paul Salem "Madinatuna" and Ziyad Sahhab "Ouyoun El Bakar". A new direction in Arabic / Brazilian music Fusion.

Past News Releases

Forward Music is an offshoot of Forward Productions s.a.r.l. It was established in 2004 by Carol Mansour and Ghazi Abdel Baki as a music label that pools together the cooperative efforts of young Lebanese artists. It aims to encourage new and creative trends in the musical arts, blending the various cultural currents that meet and interact in the country in new fusions and fresh perspectives. It hopes to draw on the rich musical past of the Arab world and the array of contemporary influences to find new musical dialects. Forward Music is committed to making an authentic contribution to our ever-changing culture and to the growing global dialogue of World Music

Those three albums were released with the launching of the Label at Virgin Mega Store on the 17th of August 2004. The artists were present for the signing of their albums amidst a crowd of about 800 people. The sales of the albums during that night were among the highest sales produced in a signing, according to Virgin Megastore officials.

A video clip was produced for each artist and is in the process of being delivered to major satellite TVs in Lebanon and in the Arab World.

During the late sixties a new musical style emerged in Lebanon and a departure from traditional Arabic Music gained in momentum. Beirut was transformed in the early seventies into a cradle for interacting cultures and a fertile breeding ground for mixing musical influences and experimentation. With a soundscape that varied from traditional Arabic Music to Psychedelic Rock, a synthesis was born. A musical form that has its roots in traditional Middle Eastern Music but that is strongly influenced by Blues, Jazz, Rock and Bossa Nova. The allegresse that characterizes the Arabic Maqams (modes) found a new home in the melodic minors in which the western form was adopted.

Paul has been playing and composing music since the late 1970s. He is a pianist and guitarist and composes music that fuses various elements of Arabic music, jazz, classical, and Brazilian bossa nova. He released his first CD ÂSamaaÂ in 1998.

Madinatuna: (Arabic/Brazilian Fusion)

Madinatuna is a CD about the city. Our city. Beirut. It encapsulates the richness and variety of the voices that interact within it. It is an expression of the energy and dynamism that characterize the city; the congruencies and contradictions; the harmonies and dissonances. The compositions in Madinatuna are as varied as the city from which it sprung, with influences as diverse as bossa nova, jazz, lounge, and Arabic music, expressing an equally wide array of emotions.

Madinatuna features:

Paul Salem: Piano, Guitars and Vocals

Abboud Saadi: Bass

Fouad Afra: Drums and percussions

Ali Khatib: Arabic Percussions and Bouzok

Samir Siblini: Nay

Charbel Rouhana: Oud

Sherman Irby: Alto Sax

Tom Hornig: Alto Sax

Zilke Pfeifer: Vocals

Jack Gregg: Double Bass

Walid Tawil: Drums (on Bazarkan)

Claude Shalhoub: Violin

Ziyad Sahhab Â ÂOuyoun El BakarÂ

Ziyad Sahhab: Is a Musician/Composer.

He started playing the Oud when he was seven years old in 1989. He became a fellow and band member in the ÂBeirut Ensemble for Arabic MusicÂ in 1993. At the age of fifteen he played solo at the memorial of Abdel Halim Hafiz at the Opera House in Egypt. He founded in 2002 the band: Shahhadeen Ya BaladnaÂ.

Ziyad composed music for plays such as ÂMarcheÂ, by Issam Bou Khaled Âwaiting for GodoÂ by Roger Assaf and films such as ÂAlive in LimboÂ

ÂOuyoun El Bakar: (Arabic Music/Tarab/Oud)

For his first release Ziyad chose not to be accompanied by his band as a Âcontre-pointÂ in this era where arrangements and decorations precede and take over the actual compositions - hence eclipsing the real substance of musical works. In ÂOuyoun El Bakar, Ziyad strips down his compositions to the bare minimum and focuses on the authentic natural mood: He plays the Oud, sings and is accompanied by light Arabic percussions.

In ÂOuyoun El Bakar, Ziyad sings the lyrics of Egyptian Poet Salah Jaheen and some of his own poetry.